Loyalty card fraud probably due to ‘phishing’: SAQ
The SAQ suspects that recent cases of fraud involving its Inspire loyalty card are most likely the result of “phishing” — a form of email scam that aims to get unsuspecting cardholders to reveal their card numbers and passwords.
One such email scam promised cardholders 30,000 points for taking part in a poll.
Since “the beginning of February, the SAQ has received calls from 15 people who (said they had) lost some, or all, of their points. Over the past week, another 50 people have contacted us with a similar complaint,” said Anne-Sophie Hamel-Longtin, director of public affairs for the Société des alcools du Québec, in an interview Friday.
Hamel-Longtin confirmed those first 15 callers were victims of fraud, and the SAQ has launched an investigation into how the cards were depleted of points.
The SAQ has since reimbursed those cardholders for the amount of points falsely debited from their cards and the remaining complaints are under investigation.
How the points disappeared — and why — remains to be solved, Hamel-Longtin said.
“Our first priority is to ensure that our internal network was not compromised,” she said.
While the SAQ reassesses the security of its entire loyalty program, which it launched in October 2015, the liquor board has implemented a new policy that obliges cardholders to show proof of identity when purchasing alcohol with their points card at an SAQ outlet.
Cardholders are not being allowed to use their points to offset online purchases at SAQ.com.
As yet, there is no plan to introduce a pin number for the Inspire card — but the SAQ is studying the possibility. As a precaution, the SAQ sent out an email to Inspire cardholders this week warning them to be vigilant about emails that seem to be written by the SAQ.
“We will never ask for your card or password in any of our communications,” Hamel-Longtin explained.
The SAQ also recommended that cardholders regularly change their Inspire password at SAQ.com and that the password be composed of numbers, letters and special characters.
SAQ cardholders who suspect they are victims of fraud, or who have received emails they believe are a scam, are asked to call the SAQ at 514-254-2020 or 1-866873-2020.